At a key moment in Hamlet’s duel with Laertes, Gertrude cries out that Hamlet ‘is fat and scant of breath’ (5.2.287). Was Hamlet fat, we may ask, as we recall the more memorable Hamlets, cinematic and dramatic? It depends, some … Read more…
A new book on phenomenology and illness entitled Existential Medicine: Essays on Health and Illness is now out, with a chapter by Life of Breath Principle Investigator Havi Carel and PhD student Tina Williams. The book’s editor, Professor Kevin Aho, is the author of Existentialism: An Introduction, Heidegger’s … Read more…
Tina Williams and Havi Carel have contributed a chapter on breathlessness to this new essay collection which explores the experience of illness, ‘what it means’ and ‘what it feels like’ to be ill. Read more about this volume on our blog … Read more…
In this book chapter, Havi considers breathlessness from a phenomenological perspective, reframing it as an existential, social, personal, cultural and psychological phenomenon, rather than a medical symptom. (Read more about the book on our blog). Havi Carel. 2018. Invisible Suffering: … Read more…
The Life of Breath team, like our colleagues at Breathe Oxford, recently responded to the proposal that defining chronic breathlessness as a syndrome might raise awareness of its impact on people’s lives. We stress that more consultation with ‘experts-by-experience’ (patients who experience … Read more…
While in Delhi for a recent UN convention on tobacco control, anthropologist Andrew Russell reports on widespread ‘astroturfing’ – large multinationals subsidising apparently independent interest groups to secretly (or not so secretly) push corporate interests. Interference, intimidation, emotional blackmail and … Read more…
Recently it was proposed that defining chronic breathlessness as a syndrome might raise awareness of its impact on people’s lives . Our collaborators at Breath Oxford responded. Their research explores the neuroscience of breathlessness, particularly the networks that generate perceptions. They … Read more…
What do people with COPD think their lungs look like? Ideas about what is going on inside the body can influence how people present their symptoms and respond to medical treatment. In this study, anthropologist Megan Wainwright asked people with … Read more…
How do we accurately measure hearing loss? In a new paper in The British Journal for the History of Science, Life of Breath researcher Coreen McGuire (University of Bristol) and Jaipreet Virdi shed light on the career of Dr Phyllis Margaret Tookey Kerridge (1901–1940) – a pioneer … Read more…
Who makes comics about science, and why? Life of Breath Project Administrator Jordan Collver explores the intersection of science and art in comics with Emma Weitkamp in a new paper for The Journal of Science Communication: “Alter egos: an exploration of the perspectives … Read more…
Some may wonder why our project includes the consideration of medieval thoughts and practices relating to the breath. What can studying them possibly offer modern medicine? In a special edition of the journal postmedieval two of our project team, Prof Corinne … Read more…
Dr Megan Wainwright is an international collaborator on the Life of Breath project. She is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cape Town (Division of Social and Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health and Family Medicine), and an … Read more…
Cynicism is often associated with indifference and fatalism – traits which are undoubtedly undesirable among healthcare professionals. However, in this article the authors argue that ‘healthy’ cynicism can be a valuable trait – it can form part of a protective response by physicians … Read more…
Throughout 2016 our collaborator Jayne Wilton created unique and beautiful breath-inspired artworks to grace the cover of The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal. She used a variety of techniques including copper etching, photosensitive paper and glass blowing to capture both exhaled … Read more…
Life of Breath PI Havi Carel has contributed a chapter on phenomenology and hermeneutics to the Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Medicine (ed. Miriam Solomon, Jeremy Simon and Harold Kincaid).
Life of Breath PI Havi Carel explores epistemic injustice in psychiatry with Paul Crichton and Ian James Kidd in a new paper for the BJ Psych Bulletin.
Life of Breath PI Havi Carel‘s new book Phenomenology of Illness is now available. Havi argues that the experience of illness has been neglected by philosophers, and provides a distinctively philosophical account, exploring how illness modifies the ill person’s body, values, and world. … Read more…
Life of Breath PI Havi Carel, Ian James Kidd (University of Nottingham) and Richard Pettigrew (University of Bristol) have a paper entitled ‘Illness as transformative experience‘ in the most recent issue of the Lancet. They argue, among other things, that the transformative … Read more…
Durham team members Rebecca Oxley and Jane Macnaughton argue that, in order to treat breathlessness more effectively, we need a greater understanding of how it feels to be breathless and how this experience may be communicated. In particular they explore the differences between the way … Read more…
Here, Durham researcher Arthur Rose explores breath as a theme, metaphor and plot device in Science Fiction. Whether used to convey a sense of anticipation, otherness, or even signify life itself, breath is a common motif in artistic media. Drawing on Fahrenheit 451, Star … Read more…
Our PIs, Jane Macnaughton and Havi Carel have contributed a chapter on breathing and breathlessness to a new book, ‘The Edinburgh Companion to the Critical Medical Humanities’, in which expert contributors from around the world map out the field of the critical … Read more…
How can art (in this case, music) illuminate human experience? Here project collaborator Toby Young contemplates Tippett’s Symphony No. 4 (1977), a ‘birth to death piece’ which features amplified human breath, most notably at the start and end. Can experiencing the piece help us understand what … Read more…
Can e-cigarettes (also called electronic nicotine delivery systems or ENDS) help curb smoking or are they just a smoke screen allowing tobacco companies to keep people addicted to nicotine? And how should global policy makers proceed when uncertainty makes agreement impossible? In … Read more…
Both patients and doctors complain of problems communicating with each other. Senior investigator Havi Carel and Ian Kidd consider the possible roots of this. In particular, they explore why patients are vulnerable to ‘epistemic injustice’ where their voice lacks credibility due to presumed lack of knowledge, … Read more…